THE rumour mill thrives in Ireland like nowhere else. Last week I heard ‘on the grapevine’ that the nearly completed stand at the new-look Curragh racecourse had failed a stress test. A call to the Curragh CEO Derek McGrath put that firmly to bed.

“There may be some cases of stress about, but the stand is tip-top,” he assured me. I then put in a request for a site visit to see how work was progressing, and on Wednesday morning, as the Curragh and the surrounds was bathed in sunshine, my wish was granted. Derek took me on an exhaustive, and exhausting, tour of every nook and cranny in the new stand.